Well we were approached by a good friend of ours to save some side dump cars & (2) locomotives. He connected us up with the familiy that had these in their barn. So in the past sometimes we follow these leads & the end result is a tractor or a truck frame. THIS TIME IT WAS LOCOMOTIVES & DUMP CARS!! This things were very old and they operated in a northwest Ohio sand pit. Upon our inspection we met the familiy. Their intentions were to build a track around their pond but 2 yrs ago the man that had the equipment had a stroke & can no longer talk or walk. They needed some help with some medical bills so we offered to purchase the equipment & help them out. They were so excited because they thought they would have to scrap this stuff. Special thanks to our good friend Mike S. for helping us save this equipment.

Locomotive inspection:

Plymouths
36" gauge
4 ton (we think they weigh less now & are missing the front counterweights)
Ford model A-3 engines (locked up solid)
Sand boxes (one had a living possum in it)
Wheels were on the outside of the frame
Everything all original including the cab that had been rivetted together

Joined: Fri Jul 15, 2005 2:34 pmPosts: 6906Location: Within 60 Miles of the Northern Anthracite Field

from what ohio mike told me the reason they stayed on the rail is the wheels are pretty double flanged pretty bad. similar to the ge's in carbondale. when the wheels get worn they wear a groove in the center. makes them stay on the track good, but going over switches and frogs makes them bounce and could derail. when we moved some cars on non spiked rail we layed the rail on its side and ran the flange in the rail. worked pretty good, although we were only going like 50 feet, not over 200!

i'd find my ownnnnnnn! ... actually the powder mill rail is sounding pretty good! now the question........................ gas/diesel or storage batt. ? gas / diesel would be easier to maintain probably because i wouldn't need any type of charging unit and place to keep the unit with a power supply. oh MAN i want one................ a little baby lokie.

O.K. there are two ways to look at this lawn tractor idea. What would be cool is to make extremely light weight and take it to the mines for a joy ride. The second way is that you might have to join one of those 7-1/2" gauge clubs.

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